Many vehicles include a passenger compartment in which airflow into the passenger compartment can be controlled. For example, vents can control the amount of airflow into the passenger compartment. Vents can be adjustable to increase or decrease the amount of airflow into the passenger compartment, as well as control the direction that the airflow enters the passenger compartment.
One type of vent includes a housing defining an opening with a plurality of vanes fixed to the housing inside the opening. In other words, the vanes are stationary. Airflow can selectively move through the opening about the vanes. A pair of doors are movable relative to the housing behind the vanes, and movement of the doors change the amount of airflow through the opening and about the vanes. A rotary knob is operatively connected to a drive mechanism that moves the doors. Therefore, rotation of the rotary knob operates the drive mechanism and the drive mechanism operates the doors.
The doors are split in half such that each of the doors defines a half-circular configuration. Therefore, when the doors block the opening in a fully closed position, the doors cooperate to define a circle that is complementary to the diameter of the opening. When the doors are in a fully open position, the doors are folded in half adjacent to each other to define a half-circle, and this half-circular configuration requires a large packaging space inside the housing. As such, the fore-aft depth of the housing is large to accommodate the half-circular configuration of each of the doors when folded together in the fully open position.